William Perlman/The Star-LedgerThe Cardinals overwhelmed Mets starter Johan Santana in the first inning of Wednesday's game.

NEW YORK – Here was the left-handed specialist, extended into his second inning of work. Here was the right-handed slugger, the best hitter in baseball.

Here was the result, the one which sunk the Mets hopes on a topsy-turvy night at Citi Field: In the 13th inning, St. Louis first baseman Albert Pujols smoked an RBI single to left off reliever Pedro Feliciano and broke a tie. The Cardinals held on for an 8-7 victory victory here before 35,009 fans on Wednesday.

That the game lasted so long was because the Mets (51-50) offense cobbled together four eighth-inning runs, two via an Angel Pagan homer and the other two via a pinch-hit single from Ike Davis. To do so, it recovered from a six-run deficit provided by starter Johan Santana (8-5, 3.11 ERA), who looked out of sync from the start.

It was not like the homer-filled, 10-run bludgeoning Santana endured in Philadelphia back in May. No, this was different, a collection of singles wobbling him right out the gate. He allowed a career-high 13 hits and seven runs. The loss snapped a string of five consecutive starts with one run or fewer allowed.

A home run from outfielder Matt Holliday ignited a six-run first inning. All the runs were accrued with two outs. The Mets jabbed back at Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia (9-5, 2.33 ERA). New addition Mike Hessman doubled in two runs and Carlos Beltran hit his first homer of the year.

But the climb was so steep. Santana left with two outs in the fifth. Holliday had just stung him again, this time with an RBI double.

Boos drifted down upon on him. His team, of course, relies on him. The Mets won two games on the West Coast Disaster. Santana started both of them. Manager Jerry Manuel reconfigured the rotation to ensure Santana would stay on his regular rest.

Perhaps he could have used an extra day.

With a runner at first and two out, a first-pitch changeup hovered into the strike zone toward Holliday and Beltran could only watch it soar into the stands in center. After Holliday’s homer, the Cardinals pelted Santana with singles, mixing in a double and walk as seven consecutive batters reached base. Most of the hits came on fastballs, low-90-mph heaters drifting upward.

By the eighth, the game was fading away. But Holliday couldn’t handle a flyball from Luis Castillo and a single began the inning. Facing reliever Mitchell Boggs, Angel Pagan cracked his ninth home run of the year. Wright legged out an infield hit. With one out, Boggs hit Hessman with a pitch, then left the game.

Up came Ike Davis, resting for the day with Hessman in his place. He laced an inside fastball past second baseman Skip Schumaker to tie the game. And while Jose Reyes walked after Davis, Castillo bounced out to end the inning. The Mets could not drum up another scoring effort.